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In the New Broadview Hotel upstairs, where rooms are mainly occupied by people on social assistance, it is anything but.

Filthy windows, chipped walls and rotting floors are the norm. Behind door 206, the home of Bruce Keefe and his wife, Debra McCormick, for the past three years, the gloomy $900-a-month room is also the abode of cockroaches, spiders and sometimes rats.

“Look, there goes another one,” says McCormick, 56, pointing out a cockroach behind the microwave — the couple’s only cooking appliance — while another crawls across the stained Canadian flag on the wall.

It is here, in the 120-year-old Romanesque, red-brick building at Queen St. E. and Broadview Ave., that loft and condo developer Streetcar Developments is planning its next big move. Those plans don’t include people like Keefe and McCormick.

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The company announced Tuesday that it has acquired what has long been considered an east Toronto landmark in dire need of repairs. Streetcar CEO Les Mallins said the company hasn’t decided what it will do with the building, but said it will not be turning it into yet another condo project.

Bruce Keefe and Debra McCormick, who live in the New Broadview Hotel, will have to leave their $900-a-month apartment after hearing the news that the hotel, which includes Jilly's strip club, has been bought by a condo developer. (Vince Talotta / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Could it be the next rundown structure to be turned into boutique hotel gold, like the Gladstone on Queen West? It’s possible, said Mallins, but the priority is to fix structural issues, which could cost up to $400,000. To properly do the repairs, Streetcar said Jilly’s, whose lease is set to expire in under two years, will close and the occupants upstairs will be leaving.

“I don’t think it’s in anybody’s best interest, including the occupants, to live in a situation where there are some unknown structural problems and issues in terms of safety,” he said, adding the company will work with the city and other organizations to help the 40 or so residents.

“This is a very important building in Toronto’s history, so we thought it was a great opportunity to give back to the community,” Mallins said. “What we’d like to do is reinstate its former beauty.”

Streetcar is not saying how much it paid, but said it was market value. Records show the building belongs to a numbered company whose principal is Norma Kamin. She is the widow of Harold Kamin, the man behind the Bargain Harold’s chain who bought the building more than 20 years ago for about $2 million, according to media reports. Kamin did not return requests for comment.

Built for $25,000 in 1893 by merchant Archibald Dingman, it was initially an office building called Dingman Hall. By 1907, under new ownership, it became the Broadview Hotel where rooms went for $1.50 a night.

In due course, Jilly’s arrived, bringing a new sense of notoriety to the area.

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The New Broadview Hotel's rooms are mainly occupied by people on social assistance.(Vince Talotta/Toronto Star)

Marea Taylor, who owns health and wellness centre energyXchange next door, said she will not miss the crowd. When she first moved in two years ago and built a patio on the roof, she recalls tenants at the hotel throwing garbage at her, although she doesn’t know if it was intentional.

She pushed to have Jilly’s remove the grimy photos of nearly naked women in its windows. Some have been replaced with silhouettes. “We don’t need a strip club in our community,” Taylor said.

Jilly’s manager, Assa Gross, who also owns the hotel, said he was caught off guard by Tuesday’s news. He knew that Streetcar planned to purchase the building, but he had yet to tell his 50 to 60 staff members they will soon be out of work or notify the hotel’s occupants.

“If we can move the licence, we’re going to try (to find another location),” he said. “It’s just very, very sad, but what can I do? It’s out of my hands.”

Hotel manager Mel Osolky, who has lived in the building for 15 years, said it’s both sad and uplifting that New Broadview will have new owners.

“It is nice that the building will finally get the care it deserves,” he said. “It’s always been the bad boy on the block. Now it’s going to come of age.”

Osolky said the hotel’s 60 rooms are mostly occupied by single men and a few women of all ages. Bathrooms are shared by as many as a dozen people.

Keefe and McCormick, who have been together for 27 years and have lived on the streets, say they’re not concerned about finding a new place. “It won’t take me long,” said Keefe with a grin. “But I will miss this place.”

“It’s like a big family,” said McCormick. “Everyone knows each other.”

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